My very first proper F1 role was through an agency which was then called Craigie Taylor. We pitched successful to Beck’s lager to manage their sponsorship of Jaguar Racing and I was put in charge of that after winning the business. So, instead of an interview this was a pitch, but it was still fantastic news to find out we’d won.
My first, and current, F1 job inside a team started back in December 2009. I’d been working for Red Bull (the drinks company, not the F1 team) until earlier that year and then moved on to a new job but when I saw there were new teams joining the 2010 F1 grid I emailed each of them offering my PR services. Almost immediately I had a reply from Silvi Schaumloeffel at what was then Lotus Racing. Silvi was one of the original four people who started our team, working for founder Tony Fernandes, and she was then doing about 18 jobs as the team was in its very early days. We met at the tea room in Libertys in London, chatted for about an hour and then I left, wondering how it had gone. Several emails and phone calls later and I suddenly found myself as the press officer for Tony’s team, and I’ve been here ever since.
You need to be prepared to work extremely hard. There are those who coast along but they don’t last – the people who succeed are the ones who put the most effort in. You also need to write off family life and sleep and you’ll be ok.
Two moments for me really stand out. The first was in Malaysia 2010 when a senior BBC TV producer asked me if I’d watch a feature they’d prepared on our little team, to run before the live race broadcast on the Sunday. He gave me a USB stick with the raw feature on it and I watched four minutes of Tony, Mike Gascoyne, Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli talk very passionately about the team that just six months before that date didn’t exist. It was very moving, brilliantly produced, and an objective view of just what we’d achieved already in our first six months, and what it meant to be on the F1 grid. That meant a lot to me and I’m not afraid to admit I shed a tear watching that.
The next highlight was the Brazilian GP 2012 when we regained tenth place in the Championship with less than ten laps left of the season. We’d lost tenth place to Marussia after the Singapore GP a few races before and the chances of reclaiming our rightful place in the pecking order were diminishing fast. All weekend Sao Paulo had been sunny, then on race day the rain started and we knew there might be a chance to fight. With most of the race done Vitaly Petrov was behind the Marussia of Charles Pic in 12th place and had it finished in that order we’d have ended 2012 in 11th place in the constructors’ championship, but on the 53rd lap (I think!) Vitaly took his chance to pass Charles, did so and then managed to keep the car on the greasy, wet/dry track for the last few laps until we’d won. It was only a little battle, with one other team, but we’d been faster than Marussia for the whole season and had lost 10th place to some magnificent driving by Timo Glock, but also to a big dose of bad luck, so to regain our rightful place felt very good indeed.
Tom Webb
Head of Communications
www.caterhamf1.com Follow the team on Twitter @MyCaterhamF1 and follow Tom Webb @TWCaterhamF1
Repaly Motorsport - supporting older fans with dementia and depression- Add a memory. Make a difference
Memory added on April 2, 2013
Comments
No comments have yet been added to this memory.
